A Fresh Start
by age4age4
Summary: While on the way to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer, former foster childstripper Joey Potter runs into and meets recently graduated college student Pacey Witter, who is on his way to the big apple as well
1. Chapter 1

**Last night in Miami**

Disclaimer: None of the major characters are mine

Authors Note: This is an AU fic that takes place in the future.

Summary: While on the way to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer, former foster child/stripper Joey Potter runs into and meets recently graduated college student Pacey Witter, who is on his way to the big apple to take over an abandoned night club that his great uncle Thomas left for him in his will. Watch as sparks unfold between the two and secrets they thought were in their past become unhidden.

* * *

Wet Willy's (Coconut Grove, Florida)

"So, what'll it be, Deb?"

"I need two call me a cabs, one chocolate thunder, three purple hooters. And oh yeah, if it's not too much trouble, the woman over at table two wants to know if she can have your phone number, as well."

Halting his movements at the request, the over-worked bartender took a second to scan the popular hang-out spot for the woman at table two. Then after spotting the woman who looked old enough to be his grandmother--his drunk grandmother, at that—throwing what he could only guess to be a come hither look his way, Pacey quickly turned his attention back to the amused waitress in front of him, replying: "I don't think there's enough Kamikaze's in the world to get me drunk enough to tap that, but thanks for the offer, Deb. I really appreciate it."

Without even bothering to conceal her amusement at the situation, Deborah let out a hearty laugh at the younger man's response and then after a second of composing herself, she half-jokingly replied, "See, now there goes another reason why you can't leave me alone here. Who else am I going to trade insults with about the drunks that come into this dive?"

Having gone through this more than once already today with other members of the staff caused Pacey to not even miss a beat as he quickly retorted, "Aw, I'm sure you'll do just fine in making fun of the people who come in here by yourself. But if you really need some help with insulting the overly obese men and real life Barbie dolls who come in here, you can always ask Susie or Diana upstairs to come down and spar with you, I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

Knowing just how much the forty three year old woman in front of him couldn't stand the barely legal girls who worked the tables on the upper deck of Wet Willy's, caused Pacey to barely be able to hold back his grin as Deborah gave him a look that would've scared the devil himself. "Just for that, Witter, I'll be sure to give the lady at table two your personal cell phone number…remind me again, you do still carry a 305 area code, right?"

With that being said, Pacey laughed as Deborah turned around and began to walk off in the direction of the table him and her were just referring to, pen and paper already in hand.

_Go ahead and have your fun, Deb. 'Cause come tomorrow morning, I will be nothing more than a vivid memory of the night before to the lady in red and Miami will be nothing more to me than just a quick truck stop in the life and times of Pacey J. Witter._

* * *

Diamond's Cabaret (Miami, Florida)

"_If I could have every-bodies attention for just a second…the next lady to grace our stage has been with us for almost three years now but sadly this will be her last night performing here. And __**no**__, she wasn't fired. But she __**has**__ decided to take some time off to see what else is out there in store for her, so if everyone could please reach deep down in your pockets and help give our very special girl a very warm send off, we at Diamonds Cabaret would really appreciate it, thanks…"_

"Okay, he must really want your ass to get raped tonight, or better yet stabbed. Wait till I get my hands around that slimy little greasy neck of his, I swear I'll rip his head off."

While letting out a small chuckle as images of her friend doing just that splashed across her mind, Joey quickly gave the mirror in front of her one last look before turning towards the door that led out and onto the front stage; throwing over her shoulder for Jen to wish her good luck.

"You don't need it, Jo…you know you've got skills."

Without bothering to reply back to that statement, Joey quickly made her way towards the center of the stage--behind the flimsy curtain that shielded the crowd from seeing her--and mentally prepared herself for what was about to happen.

_You know what I want (want), I know what you want (want), tell me what I want (want), I'll tell you what you want (want). You know what I want (want), I know what you want (want), tell me what I want (want), I'll tell you what you want (want)._

As Jamie Foxx's _Can I take U home_ began to play throughout the club's loud speaker system and the curtain's came up, revealing Joey behind them, the tall brunette quickly got into her role as seductive mistress as the crowd in front of her got into the show as well

_So many ladies in the room (in the room), all that I can see is you (see is you). These dime pieces is in the place (place), but you came in and took the case…_

Knowing that she had every person's attention in the entire club, including the bouncers up front and the girls in the back, caused Joey to make sure she had every step that she had learned how to do down pat; which wasn't really hard for her to do since ever since she was a little girl, dancing had been like breathing to her. And at this very second, she was merely just exhaling.

_Can I take you home girl (can I take you home girl), get you all alone girl (get you all alone girl). And do you like I want to (yeah), kiss you like I want to (kiss it like I want to)…_

While focusing her attention on one of the scrawny looking business men who sat in front of the stage, gripping a twenty dollar bill in his hand, Joey slowly got down on all fours and began crawling towards him; seductively licking her lips while doing so. A feat which she could tell was getting the man in front of her all riled up.

"Is that for me?" Joey purred, while giving the customer in front of her a nice view of her ample cleavage.

"Y-yes, anything for you…" The nervous man replied back before giving Joey the twenty dollar bill he had in his hand and then reaching into his pocket for more money to give her.

_Shit…_ Even though Joey had been in this business for years, she still had somewhat of a conscience and didn't want the man to spend all of his hard earned money on a couple seconds of measly eye candy. So, while pretending not to see what the man in front of her was doing, Joey swiftly began to crawl towards the other end of the stage; leaving the still fumbling man behind her with a wad of cash in hands.

_He'll thank me tomorrow when he wakes up with a hangover but still with some cash in his pocket and me on the other side of the world, pretending like my life here in Miami was nothing more than just a dream. _

* * *

Wet Willy's (Four A.M)

"Witter, come to my office before you leave."

Even though he knew it was more of a statement than a question, Pacey couldn't help but amuse Deborah, who was now sitting across from him at the bar counting her tips, by calling out to their manager that he'd be there as soon as he finished counting his bank. "And as soon as you get your head up out of your ass…hopefully the latter one first."

Without even bothering to look up from counting the money in her hands, Deborah let out a small laugh while mockingly reprimanding the younger man. "You do know that one day you're going to use that tongue of yours on the wrong person and it's going to come back and bite you on the ass, don't you?"

Having heard that statement a time or two before caused Pacey to shrug his shoulders in response before shutting the drawer to his cash register and jokingly replying, "Well, as long as I'm not using it on any of the women you've tried to set me up with in this place, I think I'll do just fine."

"Pervert!"

While laughing at the comment, Pacey threw up a sign that said he'd be back in a minute and then began to make his way towards the direction in which Dawson, his manager, had just walked in, finding the slightly older man in his office, as usual.

"You wanted to see me…"

Without even bothering to look up from the pile of papers that were seated on the desk in front of him, Dawson made a motion for Pacey to take a seat in the chair in front of him and that he'd be with him in a second.

_Sir, yes, sir,_ Pacey sarcastically thought to himself, before taking a seat in the chair across from Dawson and then lazily looking around at the cramped space around him; wondering how the hell Dawson could manage to do any sort of work in such a small compact area. _If I was the owner of this place, my first order of business would be to knock down both of these walls and have someone put in a fresh new carpet--one that hopefully didn't reek of the back seat of a used sales men's car._

"Well, I guess this is it, Witter. Your last day in South Florida, your last day working behind a bar for a few measly couple of bucks. Off to big and better things tomorrow morning. Nervous?"

Knowing by the smug expression on Dawson's face that he was just trying to psych the other man out, caused Pacey to absentmindedly sit further up in his seat, while confidently replying back: "Hardly…are you?"

While slightly chuckling at this response, Dawson raised an eyebrow in amusement before retorting, "Don't get it twisted, Witter. You're a good bartender, but not the best. I've seen better…if I can recall, I _was_ better."

Without even bothering to conceal his roll of the eyes, Pacey briefly let his mind go back to the memory of Dawson's brief stunt as a bartender, before _daddy Leery_ stepped in and offered the previous manager a couple grand to step down and let his son take over the business; a major downgrade in Pacey's opinion.

Feeling his anger start to get the best of him, while sitting in front of the pompous jack-ass, Pacey took a second to let out a small amount of air, before casually retorting: "You know, I've still got a lot of stuff I need to do before I leave tomorrow so if that is all you wanted to ask me, can I leave now?"

Knowing he had indeed struck a nerve with the other man caused Dawson's smile to grow larger, if not smugger, before falling slightly as he picked up a small envelope that lay across his desk. "Actually, I wish that was all but, even though I really don't feel like you deserve this, I was encouraged by the higher ups to give you a small bonus for working so hard these last few years. Supposedly, they think you deserve more than you do, so see it as my going away present to you. Don't spend it all in one place."

_Don't worry, I'll just use however much it is for bail money after I beat the living crap out of you,_ Pacey inwardly thought to himself before taking the envelope out of Dawson's hand and then standing up, making his way back towards the door he had came in from. Never once looking back to say goodbye to the other man as he made his way out of the office.

_Hell, after working under him for the past two years, it's more like a good riddance._

* * *

Diamonds Cabaret

"Ten, twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, ninety…eight hundred. Not bad, Potter, especially for your last night here. That's double the amount either one of us makes in one night alone. Maybe I should tell Drue to say this is my last night here, as well. My closet could sure enough go for another shopping spree and, come to think of it, so could his as well."

While shaking her head slightly at the hustling ways of her best friend Jen and her, just as bad, boyfriend Drue, Joey hurriedly finished tying the shoelaces on her tennis shoes before taking the money that Jen had graciously counted for her and afterwards putting it safely into her pants pocket; knowing never to put it directly into her purse, for fear of one of the other girls taking it by _accident. _"Well, that's it; I think I've got everything."

While making one last eye-sweeping movement over her friend's former work-station, making sure that the other girl indeed had everything, Jen softly replied: "I'm not even going to lie and pretend that things are going to be the same without you here, Jo. I don't know what I'm going to do without you being here to give me your annoying _glass is always half full_ optimistic speech every day. I'm really going to miss those."

Without bothering to hold back her roll of the eyes, Joey quickly replied, "Well, like I said before, you won't have to miss out on all of that, if you just decide to take me up on my offer and come with me to N.Y. I can always trade in my one bedroom apartment for a two bedroom apartment. We'll be like Lucy and Ethel, without the Ricky and Fred around to hold us back."

"Hey, I'll have you know, I like my Fred," Jen joked, before continuing with, "I don't think so, New York just doesn't seem like the right place for a slow girl like me and besides, can you imagine if I left Drue here all by himself. The boy can barely go two seconds without losing something or another, can you imagine him going more than a week without me?"

As if hearing the comment, Audrey--the busty blonde that their boss had just hired to take over Joey's place--stuck her head in the door and asked Jen if she had Drue's keys. "He said he thinks he left one of his cd's outside in his trunk."

After shooting Joey a look that said, _see what I mean_, Jen outwardly told Audrey that she'd be there in a second before turning her attention back to the other woman and continuing with, "But I'll defiantly try to see if I can get some time off and come see you sometime after the summer. If not then, then defiantly during the holidays. We'll throw one of our _special_ Christmas parties."

Knowing that one of their_ special_ Christmas parties meant that they'd all end up shit-faced by the end of the night caused Joey to smile slightly at the thought before saying, "I'll keep you to that…now give me a hug before I have to go."

Even though she really didn't want her friend to have to go, knowing that it was indeed Joey's time to move on caused Jen to allow her one and only girl friend to pull her into a sad goodbye hug. Then after a second, she pulled back and put on her best brave face with a comforting smile to match. "Well, off to Broadway you go. Wherever you stop, no body knows."

Knowing that her friend was just saving face and not wanting to make this an even more emotional event than it was already turning out to be caused Joey to slightly laugh at the woman's joke, before picking up her bag of items she had left at Diamonds over the last couple of years and then proceeding to make her way towards the back exit of, what she used to call, her home away from home

_Just think of it like this, Joey…it's not a goodbye, just a see you later._

* * *

Next part soon. What did you think? 


	2. Chapter 2

RED EYE DISTRICT

Disclaimer: None of the major characters are mine. That is all. ;)

Authors Note: There will be some foreshadowing in this chapter so pay attention.

* * *

Fort Lauderdale International Airport (Sunday, May 14, 2006)

"And will you be checking any bags in with us at this time, Mrs. Potter?"

"Uh yeah, just this one, but please, if you don't mind, just call me Joey, okay?" Joey quickly replied, while absentmindedly handing the woman in front of her the small black roll-away case she had just brought a couple of weeks ago at the flea market on her way back home from work.

To anyone else, it probably would've seemed strange that the young woman was literally moving across the country with just one small suitcase in hand, but Joey was never one to pack much—especially since she really didn't have that much—so she chose to pack light.

"Okay, _Joey_, here's your boarding pass and your ID back. Now, if you just stick to your right and follow the signs down to the security check point, your gate will be right behind it. It's Gate D3."

Having never ridden a plane before in her life caused Joey to pay close attention to what the woman in front of her was saying and then nod her head accordingly as she outwardly confirmed to the woman that it was, "Gate D3, got it."

With that being said, Joey thanked the older woman for all of her help and turned to make her way towards the direction in which the employee had told her to go. But unfortunately before she could even take one step foreword, she found herself having to catch herself as she almost ran into the person who had been behind her in line, who was now making his way towards the clerk she had just been speaking to.

"Sorry about that. Go ahead."

After flashing the man, now beside her, a brief _thank you_ smile, Joey quickly eased by him and began to make her way towards the security checkpoint; barely hearing when the woman she had just been talking to asked the man, who had just given her his I.D and itinerary, if he'd like to bump his seat up from coach to first class, with a surcharge of course.

* * *

"To be honest with you, I'm so tired I don't even think I'm going to be able to fully enjoy the chips and soda Jet Blue gives me in coach, so I think I'll have to pass on that one. Maybe next time though…Roxanne, is it?"

While blushing slightly as the man in front of her threw her a flirtatious grin, Roxanne quickly checked that the passenger had refused the, too expensive for her taste, upgrade and then as an afterthought, she just as quickly moved him from having a middle seat on the plane ride to N.Y to having a window seat, instead. _Can't have him getting stuck between two over-weight guys, now, can we? Especially not with those baby blues and a gorgeous smile like that._

With that thought in mind, Roxanne quickly began to ask the man in front of her the rest of the questions on her list, while secretly scoping out his left hand to see if he was wearing a wedding ring or not. After seeing that he wasn't, she gave him one of her best flirtatious smiles while telling him to have a great day, "And feel free to come back and fly out of Fort Lauderdale Airport anytime, Mr. Witter."

"I will…and please call me Pacey." Pacey commented back to her, before taking his itinerary and I.D from Roxanne and then bidding her one last final goodbye before turning around and proceeding down towards the gate she had just directed him towards; a window seat **and** phone number in hand.

_That was so easy I almost feel sorry for her_

Feeling the need to share this fact with someone else, after making his way through security and taking a seat towards the back of his gate, Pacey quickly pulled out his cell phone and began to dial a familiar New York number; smiling when it was answered on the third ring.

"Don't tell me I over slept and you're already here, bro?"

While chuckling at the half worried-half tired voice he heard on the other end, Pacey replied, "No, that's why I'm calling you right now to make sure you aren't going to do that. I'm not trying to be stranded at JFK for close to three hours while you frantically try to fight traffic to make it there like last time I came home. I swear I was two seconds away from jumping in a cab full of old nuns that I met on the plane just so I wouldn't have to freeze my ass off sitting outside on the curb."

Knowing full well that the other man would do no such thing 'caused Pacey's best friend and soon to be room-mate Jack McPhee to laugh at the statement, before jokingly replying: "I wish you would've, then I might not have gotten that sixty-dollar speeding ticket trying to hurry and pick your ass up off that said curb, jackass."

After chuckling slightly at the other man's comment, Pacey scooted down further in his seat; preparing to get comfortable while he spent the next hour, until his plane boarded, catching up with his old high-school friend. "Whatever you say, man. Anyway, why so tired? I thought you said you had given up all-night partying after that last time I came home for New Years Eve."

"Believe me, I **have**. I was actually at Andie's all-night _cleaning_. You're not even going to believe what my sister has done this time."

Knowing Andie to be more of a saint then both him, Jack and any else they knew combined caused Pacey to joke, "Hmm, let me guess, she met some random stranger off the street and took them into her home to mooch off of her causing you to be slightly pissed and aggravated at the moment? "

"Ha, close. She actually met _her_ on the internet."

_What..?_

Without even bothering to hold back his laughter, Pacey asked in pure disbelief, "You're joking, right?"

"I wish I was," Jack replied, sounding very serious at the moment, "She called me last week to tell me that a couple months ago she had posted an ad online looking for a room-mate to help her pay off the other half of the rent, since that bitch Abby deserted her ass, and said that some girl had emailed her back about the room and that they'd really hit it off. She's supposed to be flying here today."

"Wow…" was the only thing Pacey could manage to muster. He couldn't imagine what Andie was thinking, letting someone she barely even knew and had only spoken to on the computer, move in with her. Hell, he couldn't even imagine what the other woman was thinking flying across the country to move in with someone _she _barely even knew and had only spoken to on the computer.

_She must be one piece of work._

* * *

(An hour later)

_338 East 11__th__ Street. New York, NY 1009. East Village Apartments._

After slowly reciting back the information that Andie had given her one more time in her head, Joey stuffed the journal, the directions were written on, into her book-bag and stuffed that underneath her airplane seat.

True, she figured she should've been slightly nervous over the fact that in less than three hours she would finally be meeting the woman who she'd only spoken with a couple times on the phone and a couple of times on the computer, when she had gone to the library for free internet access. But to Joey, this was nothing more unusual than that time she had to stay almost a year with someone she had randomly bumped into a couple years ago after she had ran away from her last foster home.

She was more nervous about the fact that she was, at the moment, seated on a plane on its way to New York City.

_I swear if this plane can manage to get me in the air and stay in the air until I reach my final destination, I will never strip for another dollar another day in my life, I promise._

Knowing that even if, God forbid, her plane was to take a nose dive in the middle of the air and she made it out alive, she'd still never strip another day in her life caused Joey to quickly try and think of something else she'd never do if her plane got her to J.F.K airport safely and on time.

Unfortunately before she could really come up with something, a voice coming from up above snapped her out of her thoughts.

"So, we meet again."

Looking up at this comment, Joey locked eyes with the guy who had almost ran her over while trying to check his luggage in.

_And here he is again…small world._

"Yeah, I guess we do. Are you seated in this row, as well?"

"Yeah, I've got the window seat."

Realizing that in order for him to sit down, she'd have to stand up, caused Joey to give the man a small _my bad_ smile before unbuckling her seatbelt and getting up; allowing the taller man to be able to slide in and take his assigned seat by the window.

"First time flying?"

Having no idea how he could tell that fact from a few measly words alone caused Joey to look at the man strangely before outwardly retorting, "Is it that obvious?"

After slightly chuckling at the look on her face, the man shook his head slightly before outwardly retorting, "No, I was just making friendly airplane chatter. I figure since we're going to be stuck sitting next to one another for the next couple of hours we might as well make small talk…the name's Pacey."

_Pacey? That can't be his real name._

Figuring that the man in front of her had just given her a false name to call him while they were on the plane, caused Joey to—instead of giving him her real name—give _Pacey_ her stage name. "The name's Candy. Nice to meet you."

* * *

Even though he knew, with the name Candy, he could probably throw a couple of bad puns the female's way, Pacey figured that anything he could've said to her at the moment, she more than likely had heard before, so instead of commenting on her name, he gave the woman a slight smile before quickly retorting, "It's nice to meet you as well, Candy…so, what brings you to New York? Business or pleasure?"

After seeming to take a second to correctly word her next phrase, Candy shrugged slightly at the question before retorting, "A little bit of both, I guess. I'm in the process of moving there."

"I guess this **is** a small world. I'm doing the same. I just bought a place up in Mt. Vernon with one of my buddies, Jack. What part of New York are you moving to?"

Seeing a slight expression change cross Candy's face caused Pacey to quickly laugh, before replying: "Don't worry, I'm not a stalker or anything, just part of the small talk again. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

"Oh, it's not that..." Candy quickly replied, even though Pacey could tell that it was **exactly** that, "It's just that I just bought the apartment not too long ago, so it's still taking me a little while to memorize the address. It's somewhere in East Village."

Remembering that Andie lived somewhere in the East village caused Pacey to open his mouth to tell Candy that he had a friend that lived there, but before he could do so a voice came over the speaker system, telling them that they were about to prepare for lift off; a remark that caused the woman beside him to quickly turn her attention to the flight attendant in front of them who was going over safety procedures.

_Damn. She really wasn't lying when she said that this was her first flight. Can only imagine what she'll do if we hit a bit of turbulence. Should've brought some Nyquil with me to knock her out for the ride._

With that thought in mind, Pacey waited until the flight attendant had finished delivering her safety speech—that he had heard so many times before that he seemed to tune it out—before opening his mouth to talk to the female stranger once again. "Jet Blue is one of the safest airplanes I've ever been on, so don't look so nervous. And they provide us with a TV so it's a pretty quick flight if you can find a movie on one of there many TV channels."

Even though he could tell she knew he was trying to comfort her the best he could, she still didn't look very at ease with her present situation, especially when the plane started to lurch backwards; reminding them that they soon would be over a thousand feet in the air.

"Flight attendants, please prepare for lift-off."

Noticing the expression on Candy's face go from slight nervousness to absolute fear caused Pacey to mentally kick the thought of being able to sleep on the three hour flight out the window while fully turning his attention towards the scared woman and opening his mouth to ask her the first of many questions he'd be asking her on their flight to N.Y.

"So, are you originally from Florida?"

* * *

What do you think so far? 


	3. Chapter 3

MEET THE McPHEES

Disclaimer: Once again, none of the main characters are mine.

Authors Note: I have no idea why but I'm having a really good time writing this story, maybe 'cause I have no idea how it's going to end so I'm just writing to write. ;)

* * *

John F. Kennedy International Airport

"Flight attendants, please prepare for landing."

"Wow. You were right. That **was** fast."

Looking away from the window he was peering out of, Pacey let out a small chuckle as he told Candy, "I told you it would be."

For the last three and a half hours, the two had spent the entire time talking about anything and everything under the sun. They had begun speaking about how Pacey had grown up in New York but moved to Florida to attend the University of Miami a couple years ago and how Candy had never been outside of Florida, although she had lived in almost every city there was in the large state—an army brat, he had mused, something like that she had responded. Then from there on, they went on to talk about everything from the last book they had read to the last movie they had seen. To say they had a lot in common would be an overstatement since it seemed like Pacey was more of an extrovert than Candy was, but still, it was interesting to learn a little bit more about one another.

"Did you have any bags up top that you needed help getting down?" Pacey asked, after their plane had touched ground and they were free to stand up and move up out of their seats.

"No, I just have this one book-bag and then another bag that I checked in inside, but thanks for asking."

"No problem." Pacey replied back, before turning his attention back to the window beside him, watching as the employees begin to unload there luggage, until it was his and Candy's turn to get out of there seats.

"Baggage claims' this way," Pacey commented, while leading the way down the hall towards where their bags had been dropped off, "You have someone meeting you here?"

"Uh no," Candy quickly commented, while clutching her backpack closer to her, as if any second now someone would try to pry it from her protective hands, "I'm just going to catch a cab to my apartment. I don't think it's that far from here so it shouldn't be that expensive."

_Ha! She's __**defiantly**__ never ridden a taxi before in New York City. Just going down the block from here costs nearly an arm and leg._

With that thought in mind, Pacey opened his mouth to offer his new found friend a ride home, but then after remembering just how small Jack's car was and how it barely had enough room for two people, plus Pacey's bags in it, he quickly thought against it.

"My ride should be waiting upstairs in the parking garage for me now, but if you'd like I can wait with you until you catch a cab."

After taking a second to squeeze her small frame in between Pacey and the guy who had practically ran her over trying to get to his luggage, Candy shook her head at the statement, saying: "No thanks, I'm sure I'll be fine. _Besides_ I heard somewhere that New York City is full of cabs, so I'm sure it won't be long after I step out of here that I find one to take me home."

Knowing that she was probably right caused Pacey to first nod his head at the statement, before turning his attention towards the luggage carousel in front of them; just as he saw both of his bags shoot out from the opening of the gadget.

"Oh, here comes my stuff."

After taking his bags off the carousel and then waiting for Candy to get her lone suitcase from it as well, Pacey figured now would be as good of a time as any to say goodbye to his companion. "Well, I better start heading upstairs now, but it was really nice meeting you, Candy. You never know, maybe we'll bump into each other again sometime. New York's really not as big as people say it is."

* * *

Figuring there was only a one in a five chance that she'd ever see this nice man again 'caused Joey to shrug her shoulders absentmindedly while replying, "Your right, you never know. But if we don't, it was nice meeting you as well, Pacey, and thanks again for helping me out on my first flight, I really appreciate it."

"No problem. It was my pleasure." Pacey replied back, before saying one last final goodbye and then turning around, heading in the direction of the parking garage.

_Now, to go find me a taxi…_

Even though it was almost the end of May, Joey was surprised when she found herself being hit by a huge gust of wind and an alarming burst of frost bite as soon as she stepped foot outside of the JFK airport.

Having originally been a New Yorkean himself, Drue had told her that it got a little nippy sometimes in the north, but Joey hadn't thought he meant **this** nippy. It was freezing!

Fortunately for her though, as she hoped there would be, there was an empty taxi cab sitting directly in front of the airport; waiting for someone to step inside, as soon as they made their way completely outside of the airport.

"East 11th Street, please" Joey remarked, as soon as she had closed the door to the yellow taxi cab; blocking out the cool air from her already frozen body.

"Anything you say." The obvious New York native cab driver responded back, before putting on his left blinker signal and quickly edging out and into traffic. "There's not a lot of traffic out here, so it shouldn't take us that long to get there."

Not one for being impatient, Joey quickly replied, "Take your time," before turning her attention towards the window beside her, taking in briefly what New York had to offer her.

_We're defiantly not in Kansas anymore, Toto._

While paying close attention to the scenery outside the cab, Joey couldn't help but notice the huge differences between New York and Florida.

Back home she was used to seeing palm trees and shopping plazas on every corner, but here the only thing she seemed to see on every corner was signs for adult book stores and pizza places.

_Something is telling me that I might have made a huge mistake in picking New York to start my new life over in…I really hope not._

"That will be twenty four, eighty, Miss." The cab driver shouted, snapping Joey out of her thoughts.

Having not realized that they had come to a complete stop and that the driver was now waiting for her to pay him so he could continue on with his journey caused Joey to throw the man a small smile back in embarrassment, before taking out her money to pay him and then quickly making her way out of the cab, suitcase in hand.

_Now, where to now…_

After taking a second to recall the address that Andie had given her over the phone and then looking at the traffic sign on the corner of the street, Joey began making her trek up the street, in the direction that she and the cab driver had just come from; finding East Village apartments a few seconds later.

"Well, here goes nothing," Joey commented to herself outwardly, before quickly taking the stairs up to the main door of the East Village apartments and pressing the doorbell, that sent a signal to apartment 303's intercom.

"Hello?"

Immediately recognizing Andie's voice from their previous phone conversations caused Joey to slightly smile, seeing that she had found the right apartment. "Hey, it's me…Joey. I'm downstairs."

After hearing the other girl reply that she'd be right down, Joey shifted her gaze towards the street behind her, but then had to turn her head back a second later, when she heard the door in front of her open.

"Joey?"

After nodding her head in acknowledgement, Joey had to catch herself from falling as the woman in front of her quickly threw her arms around her, pulling her into an enthusiastic bear hug.

"I'm so glad you finally made it. I was so worried that you were going to change your mind and decide not to come at the last second. I'm glad I was wrong."

After waiting until the other woman had finally regained her composure and pulled away from her, giving Joey some room to breathe in, Joey outwardly replied that she hadn't even thought about not coming. "I would've called you from the airport to tell you I had gotten in safely, but I don't have a cell phone at the moment and the lines to use the payphone were unbelievably long."

While laughing at this comment, Andie quickly replied, "I can only imagine…but hey, now that you're here, I can finally show you your room. I hope you like pink."

Not knowing what that was supposed to mean 'caused Joey to throw Andie a confused stare, but the other woman had already begun making her way back into the building, so Joey's look went unnoticed.

_Guess I'll have to find that one out on my own.

* * *

_

(Across town)

"Hey man, can I get you a beer?"

Looking up from the suitcase he was unpacking, Pacey threw his a friend a look that said _duh_ causing Jack to slightly laugh before outwardly replying, "Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to for a second. Of **course** you want a beer. You _always_ want a beer."

"Damn right, I do," Pacey jokingly replied back, before turning his attention back towards the bag in front of him, calling out after a second, "Man, you weren't lying when you said this dig was a sweet place to live in. It was a good thing your friend could give us such a nice deal on it…_too_ nice of a deal, actually, if you ask me. You'll have to tell me what you did to swing this one, maybe it'll work on the ladies as well."

"Ha, ha, very funny," Jack called back, from the kitchen, before appearing at Pacey's side once again, this time with two beers in his hands.

"Thanks man."

"No problem. So…" Jack began, after taking a seat on the computer chair that was beside Pacey's bed and taking a sip out of his Coors light bottle, "you going to finish telling me about the girl you met on the plane?"

Not feeling like there was much _to_ tell, Pacey shrugged his shoulders slightly, before saying just that. "I don't even know why I brought her up to you."

"Knowing you?" Jack began, "It was probably because she was either a) beautiful, b) beautiful, or c) could carry on a decent conversation without saying something with the words 'like, oh my god!' in it a thousand times. Other than that, you normally wouldn't even think to mention a chick you had just met--unless it was just to make fun of her obvious display of stupidity _or_ her lack of growth in the chest area. And if it's that last one, to quote my little sister, you are **such** a pig."

After slightly laughing to himself and telling the other man that he knew him too well, Pacey continued with the previous conversation, "I'm not going to lie, she wasn't the ugliest girl I've ever seen, but she didn't look anything different than some of the other girls I've seen at UM, either. The only difference is, like you said before, this girl had a brain. We spent almost an hour talking about the different schools in New York and what they had to offer her."

"Like **you** would know?"

Having had this discussion many times before with Jack caused Pacey to roll his eyes at the question, before continuing with, "From the way she was talking, I'm guessing she's going to be right up there with you at NYU. Maybe you'll bump into her in one of your classes."

"It's a big school, Pace, so I doubt that. But even if I did, going by your brief description alone, I probably wouldn't even recognize her if I did see her…did you at least get a name?"

_Oh yeah…I got one, all right._

Having not wanted to hear Jack tease him about spending three hours talking to some girl named _Candy_ had been one of the reasons why Pacey hadn't been sure of bringing up the woman to his friend before. But now that Jack had flat out asked him what her name was, he had no choice but to say it.

"Candy…her name's Candy, and before you even get started, remember that not _all_ of us were lucky enough to be brought up with normal names like Jack and Andie McPhee. Even **I** know that better than anyone else does."

While feigning an innocent like expression, Jack tried to hold back the chuckle that wanted to come out of his mouth as he held up his hands in surrender, "Hey! I didn't say a thing. Candy's a very…_unique _name. Kind of makes me wonder if Snickers was taken."

After flicking off his laughing friend, Pacey inwardly mumbled '_he's got jokes_,' before outwardly continuing with, "So, what time were you planning on going to Andies?"

Waiting until he had regained his composure, Jack replied, "Soon. I wanted to give her some time to bond with her new _room-mate_ before going over there to check this girl out for myself. You want to come?"

Even though Pacey had wanted to get some rest before going to check out his new club in the morning, the thought of meeting this crazy woman who had flown across the country to live with someone she had never met before, made him inwardly comment to himself that he'd get some sleep next weekend.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

* * *

(A half-n-hour later)

"So, what do you think so far?"

Turning away from the window she was looking out of, Joey allowed herself to take another quick scan of the room she was standing in, before replying: "It's nice…defiantly bigger than my last apartment for sure, but that's always a plus."

After slightly laughing at this comment, Andie moved from where she was standing underneath the door frame towards the center of the room where Joey was standing, looking at the amazing view that New York had to offer them. "You know, before my brother and I moved here a few years ago, I had heard so many bad things about New York City and the people who lived here that I thought I was going to absolutely hate it once I got here. But not even a couple months after we moved here, my parents decided it'd be best if they just split up and my mom relocated us and her back to Massachusetts. Jack and I only lasted a week there before we made our mom ship us back here to live with our dad. It just didn't feel right being back there to us, New York had quickly become our home."

Having never had a place to really call _home_ before, caused Joey to just nod her head in false understanding. She was hoping that she'd be able to get so used to the place that she was staying in now, that she'd consider it, like Andie, to be home as well. But she'd just have to wait and see.

With that thought in mind, Joey opened her mouth to tell Andie that said fact but before she could do so, a buzzing noise sounded throughout the apartment telling them that they had guests.

"Shoot, that must be Jack…I forgot to mention earlier that my brother and his room-mate were planning on stopping by later, I hope you don't mind. He really wants to meet you."

Even though she had only a couple of hours of sleep underneath her belt and still had some slight unpacking to do, Joey didn't want to be rude on her first night there so she forced a smile upon her face as she replied, "No bother to me, it's your house too. And besides, I'm sure if not tonight, I'd have to meet your brother sometime soon, right?"

"Right!" Andie replied back, with a slight hint of nervousness in her voice, before hurrying out of the room to let Jack and his room-mate up; throwing over her shoulder at the last second, "You're going to really love these two, I promise."

_If you say so… _Joey inwardly commented to herself, before turning back to the window she had been looking out of before; choosing not to take her eyes off the view in front of her until she heard a man's voice coming from the living room. _The sooner I get these introductions over with, the sooner I can go to bed._

With that thought in mind, Joey slowly began to make her way out of her room and down the hall towards the living room, where Andie was standing, in front of the two men, who had their backs to the brunette.

Seeing Joey, Andie quickly said: "Here she comes now. Guys, this is my room-mate, Joey. Joey, these are the guys."

After letting out a small laugh, Joey watched as the guys turned around towards her one by one and after smiling hello at the shorter one, who she knew was Andie's brother Jack by all the pictures Andie had of them surrounding the apartment, Joey turned her attention towards the taller one, whose facial expression matched her now surprised facial expression.

"Pacey?"

* * *

What do you think? 


End file.
